


Lessons in Immortality

by Sunnyskywalker



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alchemy, Corruption, Curses, Gen, Immortality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 04:19:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14947442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunnyskywalker/pseuds/Sunnyskywalker
Summary: Albus is determined that his NEWT alchemy students not be lured onto any of the tempting, dark paths to immortality. Especially not Tom Riddle.





	Lessons in Immortality

“The first stage is called _nigredo_ , which signifies all darkness and impurity which must be cleansed. One must be extremely cautious; the vapors created by boiling away these impurities can cause a very unpleasant demise. Alchemy does not yield its treasure easily. To seek life, one must first risk death.”

Albus paused to observe his NEWT students as they absorbed his first lesson. Tom looked attentive, eager—but not too eager. The model student. The boy was an excellent actor. Perhaps he ought not to have allowed him to take the alchemy elective; he knew, of course, all too well how far astray an interest in conquering death could lead a bright young man. But he could not justify such a refusal to Armando without revealing too much of the boy’s youthful errors. And after all, might it not be better to watch the boy more closely, to guide his interest into more appropriate channels if possible?

“Is the experience of risk a necessary element of the magic, Professor?” the boy asked, in ever so modest and polite a tone. “How can it affect the brewing?”

Albus nodded as if he were pleased. And truly, Tom had provided a good opening for him to expand on his lesson. “An incisive question, Mr. Riddle. Precisely how it works is a mystery that has eluded the greatest minds for millennia, but every experiment made confirms it as fact: mere technical expertise will not suffice in the Great Work. Those few who have succeeded report that requires great strength of character as well. In the _nigredo_ stage, one must face one’s own darkest fears and impurities of the soul.”

“I don’t see what spiritual purity has to do with turning things into gold,” young Lestrange interjected.

“Ah, but the stone also creates the Elixer of Life, and immortality has long been associated with purity. Consider the loyal phoenix, whose tears heal and whose immortality is said to be a reward for refusing to partake of the knowledge of evil. Consider the unicorn, as pure and innocent a creature as was ever born.”

“Unicorns aren’t immortal!” Lestrange objected.

Albus silently chastised himself for his slip. He had not meant to raise a subject that could give anyone dangerous ideas. But it was too late now; they would only look the information up in the library or ask a parent with too much knowledge and too little restraint. “Unicorn blood, if drunk, will bring one back from the very brink of death, but this magic comes at a terrible price. Slaying so helpless and pure a creature will grant one nothing but a cursed shadow of life, a nightmare of spiritual torment and ill luck.”

Someone in the back snickered. “Do not take the curse of ill luck lightly,” Albus said sharply. “I do not speak of broken quills and spilled pumpkin juice. I mean the very path of your life turned aside—every dream dashed, every plan spoiled, every moment filled with anxiety and doubt. Death would almost always be preferable.”

“Is there no way to… purify oneself, should one… succumb to temptation in a moment of pain and weakness?” That voice, so like Gellert’s, but the boy was dark, not fair, and he shouldn’t think—

Memory intruded. _“But would it_ grant _you the gift, if you needed it and your purpose was pure—”_

_“Albus, you’re a genius! There must be a ritual to purify yourself if you’ve killed a unicorn. One must make some sacrifices for the greater good, after all, and it wouldn’t be fair to suffer forever for doing one’s duty to humankind.”_

_It wasn’t quite what he had meant, but Gellert’s hair was molten gold in the candlelight and his eyes were shining, and Albus wasn’t sure it mattered which he had meant anyway—_

“What about Felix Felicis?” asked Avery. Another of Tom’s followers, no doubt asking on behalf of Tom so that his leader’s interests might not appear too obvious, to greedy. He had to be firm with these boys before things got out of hand.

“There is no known cure. And I’m sure Professor Slughorn has warned you about the dangers Felix Felicis poses. No, a mere potion cannot counteract such a curse. Some have theorized that sincere remorse, perhaps, or love, may have some effect, but it has never been successfully tested.”

Tom’s eyes were bright upon him, and he thought that perhaps he could reach the boy, if he only found the right way. “Love is a powerful counter-charm. There are—reports—throughout the centuries, unverified, but too numerous to discount, of witches and wizards granting good fortune to their loved ones through their willingness to lay down their own lives.” _Not again, don’t let anyone die because of me again, Ariana had cried before—_

“Wizards have sought an easy road to immortality since Herpo the Foul, yet none have found a method with a price any wizard in his right mind would pay. Remorse, love, purity. So difficult to master, yet in the end, so much greater a reward.” So it was said, and so he must believe.

If the boy first made a study of love because he thought it might be the key to certain types of power, it might still lead him to a true change of heart. He might learn that one had to resist the lure of certain types of magic, no matter how likely success seemed, if one wanted to be known as a truly great wizard. One who never became embroiled in terrible, irreversible accidents.

Albus clasped his hands before him, Gellert’s wand, the Deathstick, a familiar weight in his sleeve. Darkness could be tamed, brought to the light. In time. “As I was saying, in the _nigredo_ stage, one must confront one’s darkest impulses…”


End file.
